Champion Chiefs roll out strong side for Harlequins despite missing stars

Exeter Chiefs have been able to roll out plenty of talent for their Gallagher Premiership season opener against Harlequins this weekend.

While England may have only sequestered a total of three Chiefs, the Devon-based side are also missing a notable Scottish and Welsh contingent of Test stars.

"Jack Nowell (toe) and Jacques Vermeulen (shoulder) are both sidelined until the New Year, while fellow finalists Stuart Hogg, Jonny Gray, Sam Skinner, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (all Scotland), Henry Slade and Jonny Hill (both England) and Tomas Francis (Wales) are also missing," said the club on their website.

There is good news in the England department, with Luke Cowan-Dickie returning from surgery to take up a position on the replacements bench.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t anticipate having four away with Scotland, but that’s great reward for all of those guys,” said Baxter. “Also, we expected a few in the EPS squad and obviously Tom Francis with Wales, but it does mean others will get an opportunity. Obviously, we gave games to guys at the end of last season and I’m glad we picked them. It gave us a chance to look at strengths and weaknesses - and also look at different combinations.

“That said, we’ve still got a strong group of senior, experienced players and we want to get as many of them onto the field on Friday night. A lot of them had good game time towards the end of the season, they’re pretty much match-ready, and they know what it takes to turn up and produce an Exeter Chiefs performance, full of vigour, full of fight, and ready to work hard.

“I say it every year, the Premiership is a tough place and you need to be ready every week.”

CHIEFS SIDE TO FACE HARLEQUINS

15 Facundo Cordero

14 Tom O’Flaherty

13 Ian Whitten

12 Ollie Devoto

11 Olly Woodburn

10 Joe Simmonds

9 Jack Maunder

1 Alec Hepburn

2 Jack Yeandle (capt)

3 Harry Williams

4 Will Witty

5 Don Armand

6 Dave Ewers

7 Jannes Kirsten

8 Sam Simmonds

16 Luke Cowan-Dickie

17 Ben Moon

18 Marcus Street

19 Tom Price

20 Richard Capstick

21 Stu Townsend

22 Harvey Skinner

23 Tom Hendrickson